Athiradi Movie Review: Action, Plot & Verdict

College student Samkutty, nicknamed ‘SamBoy’ (Basil Joseph), is an energetic whirlwind who believes in living loudly. When his college’s long-banned, legendary festival - a relic of past glory - is threatened with permanent cancellation, Samkutty decides to revive it. This pits him directly against Sreekuttan ‘Kuttan’ Vellayani, better known as ‘Thotta Kuttan’ (Tovino Thomas), a menacing local tough with a personal history tied to the festival’s original chaos. What begins as a rivalry over event permissions and student loyalties escalates into a full-blown turf war. The film’s ensemble includes a self-referential cameo by Vineeth Sreenivasan as himself, Joseph Oommen (Vishnu Agasthya) as Samkutty’s beleaguered friend, Swathy R Krishna (Riya Shibu) as a sharp-tongued student leader, and Zarin Shihab as Kuttan’s weary but supportive wife, Varada. Darshana Rajendran appears as Merin, adding a layer of romantic tension, while Jeo Baby’s SI Manichan Paily provides the harried law enforcement angle. The plot is a classic underdog formula: rebellion, escalation, confrontation, and catharsis.

Director Arun Anirudhan doesn’t waste time. The opening scenes establish Samkutty as the kind of guy who turns a mundane college announcement into a stand-up routine. Basil Joseph, fresh off a streak of likable everyman roles, leans hard into physical comedy - his gawky sprint, his windmill arms, his ability to make a single raised eyebrow feel like a punchline. He’s the engine here, and the film wisely lets him run.

But “Athiradi” has a secret weapon: Tovino Thomas. His ‘Thotta Kuttan’ is no mere villain; he’s a tragic figure with a bruised ego and a surprisingly tender side, especially in scenes with his wife (Zarin Shihab, understated but effective). The rivalry between SamBoy and Kuttan isn’t just about a festival - it’s about two men who refuse to back down from a challenge, each convinced they’re the only one with the right to define the campus’s legacy. Their first confrontation, set in a rain-soaked canteen, crackles with tension. You can feel the theatre hold its breath.

The supporting cast is superb. Vishnu Agasthya, as Joseph Oommen, deserves a special shout-out. He plays the straight man with a quiet desperation that grounds the film whenever it threatens to float away on its own energy. Riya Shibu’s Swathy is refreshingly sharp - she’s not just a love interest but a moral compass, calling out Samkutty’s recklessness with a wit that lands harder than any slapstick. Jeo Baby, as the perpetually exasperated SI, provides some of the film’s best deadpan reactions.

The first half is a blast. The festival preparations unfold like a series of escalating pranks, each more audacious than the last. A sequence involving a stolen sound system and a goat is pure, unapologetic chaos. The music, by an ensemble of composers, matches the tone: thumping, insistent, designed to keep you clapping.

The problems emerge in the second half. At 156 minutes, “Athiradi” starts to feel its length. The conflict, once fresh, begins to loop. Samkutty and Kuttan keep having the same argument with different props. A subplot involving a rival college group feels shoehorned in, distracting from the central rivalry. The resolution, too, is a bit too neat - after all the noise, the film wraps things up with a speech that’s earnest but lacks the messy authenticity of what came before.

Still, when “Athiradi” works, it works brilliantly. It’s a film that understands the tribal energy of college festivals - the ridiculous stakes, the fleeting alliances, the way a single event can feel like the most important thing in the world. The TMDb rating of 6.577/10 feels about right: it’s a solid, fun movie that doesn’t pretend to be more than it is.

Pros

• Basil Joseph and Tovino Thomas have crackling, unpredictable chemistry
• Vishnu Agasthya delivers a standout, scene-stealing performance
• First half is relentlessly funny and well-paced
• Jeo Baby’s dry humor as the police officer is consistently excellent
• The festival sequences are exuberantly shot and choreographed

Cons

• Second half drags; the 156-minute runtime is excessive
• The central conflict becomes repetitive
• A late-subplot with a rival group feels unnecessary
• Resolution is too clean and sentimental for a film that started so raw
• Some supporting characters (notably Darshana Rajendran’s Merin) are underwritten

“Athiradi” is a film powered by its players. Basil Joseph and Tovino Thomas give it a volatile, magnetic core, and the ensemble around them - particularly Vishnu Agasthya - elevates even the weaker stretches. It’s too long, and its second half loses the sharp edge of the first, but when it hits its stride, it’s the kind of unapologetically loud, funny, and heartfelt experience that reminds you why Malayalam cinema’s comedy-drama renaissance still has plenty of life. If you’re in the mood for a festival of chaos, this one delivers. Just don’t check your watch during the third act.